Sebesta watch

Okay, we've already been assured that the Treaty of Paris recognized the sovereignty of the single entity called the United States, rather than that of the individual States; that it is eeeeevil to buy a Christmas tree from a "plantation"; and that the members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy were the only people in the early 20th century to support segregation.

The latest bombshell from Ed Sebesta is that the Constitution included something called a "3/4th compromise" on slavery. From Sebesta's blog:

Emory University President calls 3/4th compromise over slavery honorable

David Daley, editor at Salon, seems to have broke the story first, of Emory University president James Wagner's column in the university's magazine in which Wagner praised the 3/4ths compromise regarding slavery as a great example of pragmatism.

Ah, yes, the infamous "3/4 compromise." I remember reading about that in the same history class where I learned about Daniel Boone fighting at the Alamo, and how the Germans attacked Pearl Harbor.

I point this out not to ridicule Sebesta (well, okay, partly), but also to expose the mind of a real extremist. If you read President Wagner's column, you'll see he DID NOT call the Three-Fifths Compromise "honorable" - in fact, Wagner's point was that the act of compromise in a republic is something that is, in his own words, "not understood as defeat, but as a tool for more noble achievement." In other words, it's a way to maintain peace while saving face.

And MY point is to illustrate how Sebesta's rigid ideology not only twists facts, but demands absolute conformity. His mindset is that of a totalitarian - of a person so convinced of his moral superiority that opponents should not be debated, but crushed.

Now THAT'S a threat to democracy.